November 06, 2021

A Not-Comprehensive List of Dostoyevsky 200th Events


A Not-Comprehensive List of Dostoyevsky 200th Events
You can always just go to the Dostoyevsky Museum in St. Petersburg on November 11 – if you have your QR code! Amanda Shirnina

On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's birth (November 11, 2021), here is a totally not-comprehensive (incomprehensible?) list of Dostoyevsky events. If you are in St. Petersburg, where the famous novelist died and is buried but was not born, you will ironically not be able to celebrate him anywhere unless you have a QR code.

Stuff in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared 2021 the Year of Dostoyevsky in Russia. Dostoyevsky Day has been celebrated in St. Petersburg every first Saturday in July for the past twelve years. You can even check it out online.

As for the upcoming birthday itself, the Theatre of the Nations in Moscow has a Dostoyevsky 200 page on which it proposes to "refresh the perception of classical works and the image of Fyodor Mikhailovich" and asks "which themes and plots of Dostoyevsky's are most relevant now, what stereotypes we encounter in the perception of a classic, what and how Fyodor Mikhailovich would write if he were our contemporary, and who would his heroes be today?" Dostoyevsky 200 events are taking place throughout November and December in Moscow. Check out the schedule, here.

The Dostoyevsky Museum in St. Petersburg, in the apartment where the writer died, opened a new permanent "literary exhibit" in September. From November 11–13, it will host the "International Conference 'Dostoyevsky and World Culture.' " The conference also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the opening of the museum. The museum sponsored a Dostoyevsky photo contest this summer whose winners will be revealed in November. Check out a dashing twenty-first-century Dostoyevsky, here.

Stuff in the United States

The North American Dostoyevsky Society's official blog is The Bloggers Karamazov. It hosts Digital Dostoevsky, a "computational text analysis project" of our hero's works. It has a list of bicentennial events, including a Virtual Birthday on the day (November 11). Check out the schedule, here. Anyone can watch videos of events that have already occurred.

The International Dostoevsky Society is running a five-minute video competition for Demons ahead of its 2022 conference; videos are due March 31, 2022.

An online reading of The Brothers Karamazov is happening with the "100 Days of The Brothers Karamazov" out of Iowa City, Iowa; they already started, but it's a doorstop of a book, and the fun will continue until December 10. If you live in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area, check out other Dostoyevsky events.

Wherever you find yourself on November 11, take a moment to remember the psychological master of literature, Fyodor Mikhailovich. (And just forget the knotty little fact that he was actually born on October 30; he deserves two birthdays anyway...) Here's to you, Dostoyevsky.

You Might Also Like

Is Dostoyevsky Still Alive?
  • November 01, 2021

Is Dostoyevsky Still Alive?

On the occasion of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky’s 200th anniversary, we visit his adopted city to consider the imprint he left behind.
Happy 200th, Dostoyevsky!
  • October 30, 2021

Happy 200th, Dostoyevsky!

On this, the occasion of the great writer's 200th birthday, we offer some links to stories we have published about him over the years, as well as some cool videos. Happy reading and viewing!
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955